2023 Most Focused Master’s Degree Colleges for Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies in District of Columbia

With all of the options students have for higher education today, it can be tough to choose which direction to take. One of our goals at College Factual is to give you as much information as we can - such as our “Schools for a Master’s Highly Focused on Parks & Rec Major in District of Columbia” ranking - to help you make that decision.

In 2020-2021, 73,813 people earned their degree in parks, recreation, leisure, and fitness studies, making the major the 15th most popular in the United States. In 2019-2020, parks, recreation, leisure, and fitness studies graduates who were awarded their degree in 2017-2019, earned an average of $31,423 and had an average of $24,388 in loans still to pay off.

Across District of Columbia, there were 319 parks, recreation, leisure, and fitness studies graduates with average earnings and debt of $34,207 and $21,848 respectively. At the master’s degree level specifically, there were 210 parks, recreation, leisure, and fitness studies graduates with average earnings and debt of $64,645 and $0 respectively.

For this year’s “Schools for a Master’s Highly Focused on Parks & Rec Major in District of Columbia” ranking, we looked at 3 colleges that offer a degree in parks, recreation, leisure, and fitness studies. This a ranking of the schools where the largest percentage of students has enrolled in parks, recreation, leisure, and fitness studies.

Check out our ranking methodology for more information.

One Size Does Not Fit All

Since the program you select can have a significant impact on your future, we’ve developed a number of rankings, including this “Schools for a Master’s Highly Focused on Parks & Rec Major in District of Columbia” list, to help you choose the best school for you.

You can create your own custom comparison that focuses on the factors most important to you using our tool, College Combat. Go ahead and give it a try, or bookmark the link so you can check it out later.

Schools for a Master’s Highly Focused on Parks & Rec Major in District of Columbia

The following schools top our list of the Best “Schools for a Master’s Highly Focused on Parks & Rec Major in District of Columbia”.

Top 3 Most Focused Master’s Degree Colleges for Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies in District of Columbia

1

Georgetown University
Washington, District of Columbia

#1 overall quality in District of Columbia

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend Georgetown University. The school came in at #1 for the Schools for a Master’s Highly Focused on Parks & Rec Major in District of Columbia. Georgetown is a large private not-for-profit school situated in Washington, District of Columbia. It awarded 150 masters’s parks and rec degrees in 2020-2021.

The low undergrad student loan default rate of 0.7% is a good sign that students have an easier time paying off their loans than they might at other schools. For comparison, the national default rate is 10.1%. Students who start out at the school are likely to stick around. The freshman retention rate is 94%.

Read more about Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies at Georgetown

2

American University
Washington, District of Columbia

#3 overall quality in District of Columbia

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend American University. It ranked #2 on our 2023 Schools for a Master’s Highly Focused on Parks & Rec Major in District of Columbia list. Washington, District of Columbia is the setting for this fairly large institution of higher learning. The private not-for-profit school handed out masters’s parks and rec degrees to 25 students in 2020-2021.

The undergrad student loan default rate at the school is 1.7%, which is quite low when compared to the national default rate of 10.1%. With a freshman retention rate of 85%, the school does an excellent job of retaining its undergraduate students.

Read full report on Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies at American University

3

George Washington University
Washington, District of Columbia

#2 overall quality in District of Columbia

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend George Washington University. The school came in at #3 for the Schools for a Master’s Highly Focused on Parks & Rec Major in District of Columbia. Located in Washington, District of Columbia, this large private not-for-profit school awarded 35 degrees to qualified masters’s parks and rec students in 2020-2021.

The school has an impressive undergrad student loan default rate. It’s only 1.3%, which is much lower than the national rate of 10.1%. With a freshman retention rate of 88%, the school does an excellent job of retaining its undergraduate students.

Full GWU Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies Report

• Most Focused Master’s Degree Colleges for Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies in the Middle Atlantic Region
• Most Focused Master’s Degree Colleges for Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies

Notes and References

References

• The Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), a branch of the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) serves as the core of our data about colleges.
• Some other college data, including much of the graduate earnings data, comes from the U.S. Department of Education’s (College Scorecard).
• Information about the national average student loan default rate is from the U.S. Department of Education and refers to data about the 2016 borrower cohort tracking period for which the cohort default rate (CDR) was 10.1%.

Read more about our data sources and methodologies

Footnotes

• *Avg Salary and Avg 4-Year Grad Rate are for the top schools only.
• Some schools otherwise deserving of recognition may have been removed from this ranking in the event that new data identified post-publication warranted it, or at the request of the school.

Credits

• Credit for the banner image above goes to NPS Photo/Zurbuch.